[1] 𝐼𝑐𝑎𝑟𝑢𝑠 - 𝑃𝑒𝑟𝑐𝑦 𝐽𝑎𝑐𝑘𝑠𝑜𝑛

1.17

-

KATNISS DIDN'T SPEAK TO PERCY the rest of the night.

She didn't speak to anyone.

She was too scared.

She had just...controlled him like a puppet master.

She stayed to herself, hiding, until Argus, the many-eyed security chief, picked up her, Cassiopeia Annabeth, Grover, and Percy at the Empire State Building and ferried them back to camp through a light snowstorm. The Long Island Expressway was almost deserted.

As they trudged back up Half-Blood Hill to the pine tree where the Golden Fleece glittered, Katniss half expected to see Thalia there, waiting for them. But she wasn't. She was long gone with Artemis and the rest of the Hunters, off on their next adventure. An adventure without Zoë.

Chiron greeted them at the Big House with hot chocolate and toasted cheese sandwiches. Grover went off with his satyr friends to spread the word about our strange encounter with the magic of Pan. Within an hour, the satyrs were all running around agitated, asking where the nearest espresso bar was.

Katniss, Cassiopeia, Annabeth and Percy sat with Chiron and some of the other senior campers—Beckendorf, Silena Beauregard, and the Stoll brothers. Even Clarisse from the Ares cabin was there, back from her scouting mission. Katniss knew she must've had a difficult quest. She had a new scar on her chin, and her dirty blond hair had been cut short and ragged, like someone had attacked it with a pair of safety scissors.

"I got news," she mumbled uneasily. "Bad news."

"I'll fill you in later," Chiron said with forced cheerfulness. "The important thing is you have prevailed. And you saved Annabeth!"

"Luke is alive," Percy said. "Annabeth was right."

Annabeth sat up. "How do you know?"

Katniss's eye twitched. Here she was, openly caring for the man who inadvertently killed Bianca and Zoë.

Percy told them what his dad had said about the Princess Andromeda.

"Well." Annabeth shifted uncomfortably in her chair. "If the final battle does come when Percy is sixteen, at least we have two more years to figure something out."

Katniss had a feeling that when she said "figure something out," she meant "get Luke to change his ways," which pissed her off even more.

Chiron's expression was gloomy. Sitting by the fire in his wheelchair, he looked really old. I mean... he was really old, but he usually didn't look it.

"Two years may seem like a long time," he said. "But it is the blink of an eye. I still hope you are not the child of the prophecy, Percy. But if you are, then the second Titan war is almost upon us. Kronos's first strike will be here."